Hello All,

Some background info on my situation - I'm in my late 20's and I've been suffering with an anal fissure for the past 4 months (hemorrhoids for about 8 years). While I never had the extreme pain many have mentioned - the pain (burning) was consistent and some times lasted for 24 hours after a bowel movement. I couldn't lift weights, eat red meat or engage in any strenuous activity with out having a major flare-up of a burning sensation within the area.
After reading the varying reviews about the Kenalog procedure on this forum and even other patients reviews on Vitals website, I decided to pay Dr Feingold a visit. Please note that I am not from the U.S and I was traveling from another country to inquire about this procedure.

As many have mentioned Dr Feingold has good bedside manners and exudes confidence in his area of practice. His examination was painless and he didn’t do a full on rectal exam (which I really appreciated due to the fact that 3 weeks prior I had a rectal exam done by a gastroenterologist which really exacerbated the fissure issue in my opinion). After this consultation, I felt comfortable with the idea of moving ahead with this procedure as oppose to LIS.

I booked my surgery date and three weeks later I was flying to New york ( nervous as hell) to do this procedure. I showed up the morning of the procedure (5:30 AM) registered and before I knew it I was in the operating room. I must say, the nurses , anthologist and even Dr feingold’s assistant Nikita were all exceptional in making me very comfortable along the way.

Back to the procedure, there should seriously be a count before they knock you out, The last thing I remember saying was I was feeling some pain in my left hand where the Ivy was being injected and then waking up in the recovering room asking what time the surgery was -__-

I was under for almost a hour, I had the kenalog injection, a papilla removed and a anal fistula removed as well. Dr Feingold mentioned that the fistula could have been what was causing most of the pain. Upon waking up, I didn’t feel any feel pain although I did have some indication of discomfort in that region. My entire but was Numb but I was feeling pretty ok other wise.

First Day

Most of the day went by ok with pretty minimal pain but as soon as the numbing effect wore off I started to feel the onset. Not extreme but noticeable. The pain was a 5-6 on a scale of 10 and when I took my pain meds ( vicodin & motrin) it went down to about a 3-4.

2nd to Present
Mostly the same as the first, I had my first bowel movement towards the ending of day 2. It was on one word – painful. But it wasn’t painful for the reasons that you might be assuming. It would seem that as a complication from the procedure, I developed a moon sized external hemorrhoid, which in my opinion seems to be causing all of the pain. It is a deep throbbing achy pain which intensifies when I have a bowel movement. It is also painful to touch, its just very inflamed at the moment.

Now today I had my second bowl movement, I lay here in pain typing this. Wrote Dr Feingold and he mentioned that this isn’t uncommon an it should resolve “over time” with the pain meds , icing and sithz baths. I am hoping this happens sooner rather than later because this is one of the most uncomfortable pains I have ever experienced. I cant walk properly due to the size of it , cant sit , I just cant move with out discomfort. Its only day 3 and maybe this is normal but I just thought I should share my story with you all given how little information there is on this procedure.

Note: I drink tons of water, and Mira lax twice a day with Colace, which has, kept my stools very soft so far. I do believe if this hemorrhoid weren’t so inflamed, passing a soft stool wouldn’t be difficult. Another important point – I can’t sit on the toilet bowl as yet. I have to squat. Again this seems to be a problem with the hem.

Any way I hope this procedure works and these issues resolve it self. If you all have any questions please feel free to ask.

If any of you have experienced this and have any insights on how to deal with this. I would surely appreciate the advice as well.

Sorry you're in pain.

I have not had this surgery, but I have had a thrombosed hemhorrhoid. This is what it sounds like. Very very sore. I had surgery as it got even worse, but I would continue with the icing and Sitz baths and know that it will gradually get better. I believe that hemorrhoids can react to both Botox and Kenalog in this way.

Get better soon.

Hey Monts, just wanted to send positive thoughts ur way... Hope ur feeling better...

i had the thrombosed roid and it almost killed me. I had to have it cut out in the ER about one week after the feingold procedure. He said that happens in about 5 % of patients.

Tonight, it marks nearly 5 weeks since the surgery and i'm still spasming but - no fissure? I'm seeing him Wednesday and this is odd. I probably need to get other things checked out.

Hey,

Well today marks one week since the procedure. The hemorrhoid has moved from a scale of 10 on the inflamed scale to about a 3. The size is down and I can now walk and sit some what with moderate comfort. It is still inflamed and sensitive to touch and bowel movements are still very painful. Yesterday was the worst episode with pain around a 8. I took a vicodin and iced immediately and it went down to a 2 within a hour ( thankful of that).
I am better off than I was a week ago for sure but i am also still experiencing leakage as well. Out side of that, My stomach is gassy and bloated from time to time which adds another layer of discomfort ( this started a few weeks before the surgery). Not sure if any one else has experienced this in relation to a fissure ?

When the hemorrhoid subsides maybe then I will be able to say how I am precisely. As its hard to tell if all of the pain is coming from the hemorrhoid or from some other aspect during a bowel movement.

I am currently at a level two with pain but I haven't had any bowel movements for the day ( stools are also soft so far)
side note - I found that witch hazel has been very helpful with treated the inflamed hemorrhoid.

Yes Johnny , I read your initial post and it was and still is a concern of mine. Hopefully it doesn't escalate into that as i can only imagine the pain you went through.

Thanks for the advise Savaici

How are you feeling Monts?! I'm going for my "post-op" appointment tomorrow. It's been 6 weeks since I had the procedure. I feel very good now! Some days I have some mild pain during a bowel movement, but I am generally ok afterwards, on occasion, I have some soreness. I am anxious for tomorrow's exam in hopes to get a good report of how the healing is going from the Dr's perspective.
I'm happy to hear your hemm went down! That's great news... give it some more time and it will hopefully keep improving. Mine did after about 3 weeks I think.
I was not very gassy prior to the surgery... may want to have some tests done, perhaps something you are eating is not agreeing with you.
Keep in mind, someone once said (I think on this forum somewhere)... think of your healing in 'weeks', not 'days'. This helped me a lot! Another thing someone told me was to try and be aware of when you are clenching your bottom. Since I've become more aware of this, I've noticed I do clench a lot and have tried to stop this.
Also, I'm wondering one thing... my stool has also been quite soft! How is this possible? I haven't made any drastic changes to my diet. Is this a side affect of the Kenalog?? Whatever it is.. I like it!! It's like magic! lol!
Ok.. that's all.. I'll update after tomorrow's appt if you'd like me to. :)

Hey Lorrie,

Great news, I am so happy that things are much better for you. and thank you for the great advise. Yes I do clench a lot ? does that exacerbate the problem? i'll definitely pay a lot more attention to this.


As for how things are in general. Today marks 2 weeks since the surgery. My hemorrhoid has almost completely gone away and I was progressing quite nicely until last night.

Went for a walk ( doctor said that I could once I felt fine) and I believe that I might have irritated the area. While showering after the walk, some soap got in-between that region ( i usually don't apply soap there since the surgery) and it seems to have added to the irritation. Actually when the soap got into the area i felt a sharp sting.

Anyway this happened last night, i had a bowel movement this morning and I am feeling some burning that has been persistent through out the day. I find this unusual because I haven't experience any burning since the procedure and most of my pain was related to a soreness or a throbbing/continuous ache from the hemorrhoid

has any one experience burning after the two week mark ?

Any way I just emailed the Dr about this. I am hoping this isn't a set back As i was progressing nicely

Lorrine, please let know how things went with your post op. Hopefully it will be all good news! wishing you the best

I will definitely give an update after the appointment! :) So weird about the burning.. remember I was telling you about the burning sensation I was having as well? I'll ask him about it tomorrow. Mine could've been related to the small bump I felt (which may have just been scar tissue I'm told). I don't know.. but interesting that you had that too. I'm glad it's over though.. no more burning and no more throbbing. I am happy to have my life back!! :)

I am 12 days after surgery. The pain is barely tolerable. I cant even tell anymore if it is the fissure or the massive hemorrhoid or both. Right now I would say I am worse off than when I started.

Did you call Dr. Feingold about your pain?! I'm so sorry to read this..